Early mornings and DIY

I am totally addicted to early mornings. The coffee, the quiet, the ability to read a book or cruise the Internet uninterrupted. My favorite is waking up early in the winter when it's still dark at 6:00 am and watching the sun rise through my windows. If I'm lucky, it will be snowing outside. It's not snowing today, but my morning has the extra bonus feature of having Christmas decorations up inside my house and and through the view from my window.

My Christmas decoration. Need some presents under that tree. 

My morning perch where I watch the world wake up.

Aidan up and playing with Stan

Blurry pic because my phone camera is broken

I'm relaxing because we have a big day ahead of us as we head into the final days of construction on the downstairs bedroom. My parents arrive on Wednesday night, and Robert and his dad have been working feverishly in the basement so that we actually have a room in which Mom and Dad can sleep. So far the construction team (Robert, Bruce, and Alex) have finished framing, insulating, drywalling, mudding, sanding, and painting the first layer of paint. Today we paint the second layer, tomorrow we clean the enormous amount of dust that has settled in the basement, and Tuesday the new carpet gets installed. Wednesday I should be done reassembling the room before my parent's plane touches down. But at least we're not cutting it close.

Overflow construction mess

Home construction without hiring a professional is still a foreign concept to me. I had the best dad ever but not the kind that tears down walls to see where a leak is coming from. In fact, I don't remember a single home improvement project that we undertook sans licensed contractor growing up. Mom, Dad feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I can't tell if it's a Utah thing or a Robert thing, but since we bought a house, Robert's new catchphrase is "I can do that." I'm proud of his ambition but still sort of amazed that room-building is something that can be done without a license or qualifications of some sort. My early skepticism is wearing off though as I've seen the work that Robert, Bruce, and Alex have been able to accomplish without hired help.

Lovely tile rug Robert, Alex, and Bruce completed last year when our kitchen flooded

Final days of basement construction

I'm learning to enjoy the benefits of having a DIY husband but don't really know the etiquette of a wife during these projects. The men are down there toiling day after day, and I don't know if I should be helping or just offering them cold beverages and food. Sometimes I think I should be down there mudding and sanding, but most of the time I just feel like I would be in the way. It's weird for me to not know what to do in a domestic situation. My mom was the paradigm of domestic virtue so I am well-versed (if not 100% compliant) on how a woman runs a home, cooks, cleans, rears children, and hosts parties. I've even learned to juggle these tasks while working a full-time professional job. Yet, I have no idea what a wife does when a husband undertakes a home construction project. Since I do the lion's share of cooking and cleaning, is this where I let him pick up the heavier load? We have lots of jobs that are exclusively mine or Robert's. He mows the lawn, I do the laundry. He hangs the Christmas lights, I do the dishes. He takes in the trash cans, I make breakfast smoothies. His jobs tend to be more labor-intensive but done less frequently. Does construction fall into that category? I don't know. If there are any Emily Posts out there, please tell me what my role should be in home construction. Before you say, "do what you want" please keep in mind that such tasks are not completed based on desire. I am not going to pick up a hammer for fun any more than I do laundry or clean toilets for fun. I do these things because my family needs clean clothes and toilets and because I want to be a good partner for Robert.

Despite all of my own insecurities, one thing is for certain. I am very grateful for all the amazing work that Robert, Bruce, and Alex have done in my home over the last several weeks. It absolutely overwhelms me how dedicated this family is to one another and how fortunate I am to be a part of it.